The bubonic plague was airborne and not spread by rat fleas.

As we all know, history tells us that the bubonic plague that wiped out most of Europe in the 13th century was spread by fleas from rats...well, they were wrong, dead wrong.

Specialists from London have examined 25 skeletons from the Clerkenwell area, and they believe they have found the truth about the disease that killed millions.

The DNA found in the samples of 'yersinia Pestis' taken from the teeth of the skeletons was compared to that of the plague which killed 60 in Madagasacar recently and it's basically identical, not more virulant, so for it to have spread so rapidly and to have killed so many in such a short period of time the disease must have been spread by coughs and sneezes, so it was airborne, pneumonic rather than bubonic plague.

Quote - 'According to scientists working at Public Health England in Porton Down, for any plague to spread at such a pace it must have got into the lungs of victims who were malnourished and then been spread by coughs and sneezes. It was therefore a pneumonic plague rather than a bubonic plague. Infection was spread human to human, rather than by rat fleas that bit a sick person and then bit another victim'.

Makes you wonder how much more of the history that we have been taught is wrong.

reply to post by andy1972


History is always written by the winners so most of it is tainted towards one way or another.

Although things like the plague, it is understandable to have it wrong because it was long before we understood a lot about viruses and biological diseases.

It is nice to see they uncovered a truth about it that no one really knew.

Helps in the understanding of how these things spread.

S&F for finding a little truth and putting it out there!

reply to post by andy1972


Well, watching the inconsiderate aholes who sneeze all over people when they have a cold or the flu, its easy to see how an airborn plague would QUICKLY spread.

Imagine how angry some grad students must be right now.
Spend 100 grand on schooling and it's wrong.

The same thing happened with syphilis..

They blamed it on 'the new world' and said it was a disease brought back from the Americas..

However, Im from Hull in England, which was a major sea port for centuries and they found many monks from the area had died of spyhilis CENTURIES earlier betwenn 1300 and 1450

Syphilis in Hull.

VoidHawk
reply to post by andy1972

 

Well, watching the inconsiderate aholes who sneeze all over people when they have a cold or the flu, its easy to see how an airborn plague would QUICKLY spread.

Too true...it would only take one person on a tube train to wipe out half a city in days.

reply to post by andy1972


From the source article it says 60 people died recently in Madagascar from the plague. I'm guessing it was spreading airborne there also? Can we expect to see the quarantining of entire towns or countries in the future when an outbreak occurs? I'm guessing so.

the scientists were able to compare the strain of bubonic plague preserved there with that which was recently responsible for killing 60 people in Madagascar. To their surprise, the 14th-century strain, the cause of the most lethal catastrophe in recorded history, was no more virulent than today's disease. The DNA codes were an almost perfect match.

reply to post by andy1972


Well now, I have some ammunition to use against those people that keep saying that killing off cats in Europe was the main reason that the Black Death occurred in Europe.

butcherguy
reply to post by andy1972

 

Well now, I have some ammunition to use against those people that keep saying that killing off cats in Europe was the main reason that the Black Death occurred in Europe.

Do you hate cats or something?

reply to post by seabhac-rua


I thought this was going to be some kind of nonsense, but, it's the real deal....we don't always know....good that they looked at this and found out.

This is definitely disturbing. So what caused the most recent outbreak? Nature hitting the reset button...even the bible warned of this and I'm not religious. I do remember reading something about an increase in meteor sightings before the plague outbreaks throughout history. There has been an increase in sightings as of late, no?

reply to post by andy1972


The beauty of life on this planet is to survive its hellish nature. Stick around long enough and you get to experience some amazing cause and effects. Most are truly horrifying, and some are potentially worse. We are in a flourishing era, and yet we are increadibly vulnerable. I cannot imagine what life would be during the "dark days". We do not have a stake on this paradise. We are terrible tennants. Better love somebody now, because this ride could end any moment.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say, I would rather succumb in liquid hot magma or get sucked off the Earth into space than die from a virus, seriously.

I think they are on to something but I do believe it was a combination of both types that led to the historical outcome.
The disease was way too widespread for it to have traveled the distances it did and men who owned many horses were commonly less infected then those that had none. Fleas apparently don't like the smell of horses, I wonder how they figured that out. It just seem likely flea infested rats were the catalyst, then proximity to infected individuals delivered the killing blow.

Anyway just an opinion! Thanx

AB

seabhac-rua

butcherguy
reply to post by andy1972

 

Well now, I have some ammunition to use against those people that keep saying that killing off cats in Europe was the main reason that the Black Death occurred in Europe.

Do you hate cats or something?

Yeah, just a bit.

reply to post by andy1972


It was spread by rats and rat fleas.. a man in oregon will tell you. He lost his fingers and toes and went into a coma after pulling a rat/mouse from his cats mouth and catching the plague.

The thing is.. we've also always known that the second stage of the bubonic plague Is called the pneumonia plague. So naturally at that stage it becomes airborne through droplets exhaled during respiration. Of course back in those days with no treatment pretty much everyone that caught the plague went through the pnuemonjc phase. So they could catch it by fleas and then infect others when their disease progressed to the lungs in the pnuemonic stage.

Its kinda silly the article paints them as so surprised.. they have known it becomes pnuemonic if not treated.. and they know there was no treatment back then. 2+2=4.

reply to post by andy1972


What I always found interesting were the cloaked figures with scythes (later became the symbol of Death) people would see on the edges of town right before outbreaks. Nothing is as it seems...

Pajamathief
reply to post by andy1972

 

What I always found interesting were the cloaked figures with scythes (later became the symbol of Death) people would see on the edges of town right before outbreaks. Nothing is as it seems...

You know..until today..i had never heard of that !!

I shall be investigating

Curioser and curioser cried Alice..

reply to post by VoidHawk

reply to post by andy1972



Well, watching the inconsiderate aholes who sneeze all over people when they have a cold or the flu, its easy to see how an airborn plague would QUICKLY spread.

To be fair... People can't stop a sneeze or a cough, & even if they cover up their mouth... Nothing used to do so is airtight & it spreads anyways!!!

I'm not advocating not covering up, but it's not the cause & affect... It's just inconsiderate!!!


Peace Void!!!

reply to post by andy1972


Very interesting and frightening. Airbone diseases are really a problem. If this # became a global pandemic today, i have to wonder where it would lead. It would most probably be catastrophic. Although.. maybe essentail oils can do something, never tried fortunaly..

But whats more interesting is the fact that we got another history fail here. Quite frankly i dont trust the history they preach in every school and every #ing books. Sure many things are probably accurate but many are created, altered to fit who knows what agenda too! I am not even sure about dinosaurs. Ever heard of impossible artifacts? They are fossils, devices, oddities that shouldnt and cannot exist, and certainly not fit in the fairy tale that is the current human's history. Artifacts that sometimes are so old (millions years old) that you have to wonder if humanity is really just 200k years old. Or if something else was there before... And i wont talk about time travel which is as much fascinating as it is frightening. If possible, imagine the mess it could create. Ok im off topic.

reply to post by andy1972


then why did the Great Fire of London put an end to the plague?

?